As Oakland braces for Wednesday’s general strike, potentially the biggest demonstration in the East Bay since the Vietnam War, Mayor Jean Quan found herself under fire, both from her own Police Department and a neighboring mayor, for her handling of the Occupy Oakland protests. In a letter posted on its website Tuesday, the Oakland Police Officer’s Association said Quan is sending conflicting orders and that “we need real leaders now who will step up and lead — not send mixed messages.”

A man infamous among San Francisco renters for strong-arming tenants out of rent-controlled apartments owned by one of the city’s most notorious landlords directed employees to donate to Mayor Ed Lee’s election campaign, telling them they would be “reimbursed right away,” according to an e-mail obtained by The Chronicle. The district attorney’s office is now “evaluating” the matter, its third probe into alleged wrongdoing by Lee’s supporters.

After vetoing one proposal to close a loophole in the San Francisco law that requires employers to provide some funding for their uninsured workers’ health care expenses, Mayor Ed Lee signaled Tuesday that he would sign on to another plan intended to tackle the same problem.

Californians suffering from a massive case of “sticker shock” over the new $99 billion price tag for the state’s bullet train project got some more unsettling details Tuesday: The high-speed trains will attract fewer riders and less revenue than originally promised. And more than half of the money needed to build the rail line would come from federal funding that currently doesn’t exist.

An effort to limit California’s tough Three Strikes Law is gaining momentum, with a proposed ballot initiative that would reserve the toughest penalty — 25 years to life — for the baddest of the bad, including murderers, rapists and child molesters. The initiative, now under state legal review, was carefully crafted by a group of Stanford University law professors and stops far short of the extensive changes proposed under a previous reform measure that narrowly failed in 2004.

After almost four hours of discussion, including plenty of enthusiastic feedback from the public, the San Jose City Council gave a unanimous thumbs up Tuesday night to a new blueprint that outlines the way San Jose should grow over the next three decades. In a 9-0 vote, the council accepted the Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan — a report that will guide the city’s future land use by emphasizing jobs before housing and retrofitting much of the city’s 180 square miles to reduce the public’s reliance on cars.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed called Tuesday for the City Council to raise the tax on medical marijuana collectives from 7 percent to the maximum 10 percent to pay for a citywide vote on whether to repeal newly enacted pot regulations. Reed had signaled that he wanted San Jose voters to decide the fate of regulations that city officials spent two years developing — rules he supported but which marijuana collectives call unworkable. But Tuesday was the first indication Reed wants the pot clubs to pay for an election, which Reed said could cost the cash-strapped city more than $1 million.

Two-year-old conjoined twins can finally lead separate lives, after a successful seven-hour surgery by a huge medical team at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Hospital.In a tearful meeting with the media at the hospital’s entrance late Tuesday afternoon, Angelina and Angelica’s exhausted mother Ginady Sabuco said, “I thank God for everything. This is a dream come true.” Clutching a small speech on a crumpled piece of paper she added, “I will be gratified for eternity. God bless you all.”

Author

Jon Brooks

Jon Brooks writes mostly on film for KQED Arts. He is also an online editor and writer for KQED's daily news blog, News Fix. Jon is a playwright whose work has been produced in San Francisco, New York, Italy, and around the U.S.